Ribbed knit fabric with backing



D. G. BELLIS.

RIBBED KNIT FABRIC WITH BACKING.

- No. 561,558. Patented June 9, 1896 Wimwom QMW,

PATENT rion,

DAVID o'. BELLIS, or ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.

RIBBED KNIT FABRIC WITH BACKING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 561,558, dated June 9, 1896.

Application filed March 2, 1895. Serial No. 540,370. (N speoimensJ To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID C. BELLIs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elizaboth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Ribbed Knit Fabric with Backing, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a ribbed knit fabric having one of its faces c0mposed of one kind of yarn,as cotton, &c., and the other of its faces composed of wool,silk, duo.

A well-known feature of ribbed knit fabric is its great elasticity, which allows a garment of such fabric to be temporarily stretched without permanently distorting the shape thereof. Plain knit fabric has no such feature, and when a garment-for instance, a shirt or otherarticle of underwear--of such plain fabric is subjected to strains the shape of the shirt or other article is more or less permanently altered or destroyed, as is well known by the manufacturer as well as by the consumer or the public. For this reason most or all of the underwear in the market is made on rib-frames, producing ribbed knit fabric, and for hygienic reasons knitted underwear of wool or silk is always preferred to any of other material; but it is a well-known fact that knitted underwear composed entirely of wool or silk, and especially such as is produced on a rib-frame, is very costly, owing to the great amount of material used in ribbed knit goods.

My improved knit fabric, which has all the properties of a ribbed knit fabric made entirely of wool, silk, or other expensive material, can be manufactured very much cheaper than such, because a body of ribbed knit fabric which consumes the greater part of the material in producing a ribbed fabric is made of cotton or other cheap material, and a backing of wool or silk is floated over the inside of the said body and interlaced with certain meshes of the body constituting the outer wales thereof.

The improved ribbed knit fabriccan be produced and finished in one operation on a machine for which an application for a patent was filed of even date herewith and serially numbered 5%,371a

The improved ribbed knit fabric consists of a body composed of cotton or other material produced on a rib-frame and a backing of woolen yarn or silk threads, said threads extending from one outer wale to another and being interlaced on the inside of the fabric between the lower part of one loop and the upper part of an adjoining loop lying in each of such outer wales of the ribbed fabric in such a manner as not to curtail the elasticity of the body; and it further consists of the improvements hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

The invention will be more fully understood, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, forming part hereof, and in which myimproved knit fabric with backing is illustrated on a large scale.

In the drawing, A represents the body as produced by a rib-frame and is composed of the outer wales 'v and the inner wales h. The backing of woolen or other yarn or thread w is attached to the inner side of the body A. Said threadsw extend from one outer wale o to another and are interlaced on the inner side of the fabric between the lower part a: of one loop and the upper part 3 of an adjoining loop lying in each of such outer wales o of the ribbed fabric in such a manner as to form scallops between the meshes by which the backing thread or yarn w is held to allow for expansion of the fabric when subjected to strain.

The backing-thread u: may be interlaced with each mesh constituting the outer wales v and at each course of the body A, or it may be interlaced with each mesh constituting the terlacing or fastening the woolen or other yarn or thread w to the body A is preferred, as it prevents unnecessary bunching or piling of backing material onto the body.

I am aware that plain knit fabric has been provided with various kinds of backing or plush faces 5 but I am not aware that any backing has been applied in. the manner as herein IOO shown and described to ribbed knit fabric, and I desire it to be distinctly understood that I do not lay claim to providing a plain knit fabric with a backing; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A ribbed knit fabric provided with a backing consisting of threads extending from one outer Wale to another and which are interlaeed on the inside of the fabric between the lower part of one loop and the upper part of an adjoining loop lying in each of such outer wales of the ribbed fabric substantially as shown and described.

2. Aribbed knit fabric in combination with 

